Brussels, Nov 8 - Belgian supermarket group Delhaize reported an unexpected fall in third-quarter operating profit on Thursday, as the weak dollar hit, but raised its target for like-for-like 2007 U.S. sales growth.
EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) for the July-September period dropped 6 percent to 215.6 million euros ($316.3 million) against the average forecast of 236 million euros in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts.
Group sales declined by 1.3 percent to 4.75 billion euros, against the average analyst forecast of 4.76 billion euros. Discounting dollar weakness against the euro, revenues would have risen by 4.2 percent.
Delhaize, which makes about 80 percent of its sales in the United States, has suffered from the weakness of the dollar, which hit a record low of $1.4730 to the euro on Wednesday.
Comparable store sales growth in the United States, a figure closely watched by the market, was 4.6 percent, above expectations and the highest level since 2000. The Belgian figure was 0.4 percent, compared with a forecast of no change.
For the whole of 2007, Delhaize raised its target range of comparable U.S. store sales growth to 3.5-4.0 percent from 2.5-3.5 percent.
It maintained previous guidance for the group of revenue growth of 4-5.5 percent and operating profit growth of 6-8 percent at identical exchange rates. It had said in August it expected the outcome to be at the top end of those ranges.
Delhaize had also said it expected Delhaize America's net profit from continuing operations to grow by 14-18 percent.
Overall net profit was expected to grow by 23 to 29 percent in 2007, again at identical exchange rates.